i used to use EAC. However, when i switched to my new laptop two years ago started using dbPoweramp to rip CD’s.It was much easier to setup than EAC. and i like the ability to transcode. as well as the excellent multicore support for ripping and encoding.

I from my experience use Winamp Pro to do my conversion or rips from cds. I rip to mp3 not wav but the ripper does give me the option for that format as well. But it is a paid program and so far it has worked well for me.

I’ve used most of the programs above . This is my opinion & to my ears .

I almost always use EAC to rip . Before I tested this & I still go to the extra effort to set them for a drive. I don’t beleive the offsets are as important as I was led to beleive. I have EAC set where it will convert to a good quality .mp3 (more on this below). I usually convert to .wav though. I also don’t use EAC to tag anymore than I can help. I tag with a tagging program & some with WinAmp the free version.

For conversion of the .wav to .mp3 dBpowerAMP is the best . I use an old version that was the last freeware version 10.1 with the correct new LAME added to it. If you compare the EAC .mp3 & the dBpowerAMP .mp3 (of the same song) with EncSpot the are almost identical. That being said to my ears the dBpowerAMP .mp3sounds better.

I like WinAmp for a player & sometimes tagger. I only have the free version & I suspect the pro version would have more features . Still WinAmp has the best sound of any player I’ve used. I do have a version of DFX that I use with it but it can be turned off when I don’t want it.

My main tagger is MP3Tag so far it does the job.

There are a couple of other software worth mentioning .
foobar
ZTree
Audacity
Even BeSweet can create good conversions.

I’m not a fan of CDex but it does OK .
The same for AudioGrabber.

Last I run AnyDVD when I rip commercial Audio CDs. It’s probably not necessary but it might find something . I’ve never noticed it does any harm .

[QUOTE=cholla;2659694]I’ve used most of the programs above . This is my opinion & to my ears .

I almost always use EAC to rip . Before I tested this & I still go to the extra effort to set them for a drive. I don’t beleive the offsets are as important as I was led to beleive. I have EAC set where it will convert to a good quality .mp3 (more on this below). I usually convert to .wav though. I also don’t use EAC to tag anymore than I can help. I tag with a tagging program & some with WinAmp the free version.
.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=S0nic;2659695]from original cd to wav , what is better for you EAC or DBPoweramp ?[/QUOTE]

They sound equivalent from what I have heard, if both are set up properly, as far as sound goes. dB Poweramp just has more utilities with it that make it nice. And its easier to set up than EAC. The last time I set EAC up it took forever because I could not get the FLAC converter to work properly. Drove me nuts, especially since I had finally found one website that spelled everything out and didn’t skip steps, but that had been taken down. All while a bunch of “experts” were saying “look at the wiki, look at this website, look at the website” , “it’s so easy”.

The ability to transcode using dB Poweramp also liberated me from having to use FLAC frontend or MKW’s SHN converter, both of which were pretty CPU intensive.

I don’t usually use FLAC but I tested my EAC the way I have it set up .
All I had to do was go to Compression Options/External Compression.
Check the Use external program for compression .
Use file extension : to .flac .
Point it to : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\flac.exe
(I keep flac.exe ,FLAC.dll ,flac_ren.exe , & in_flac.dll in my EAC folder.)
Some came from a FLAC front end but the FLAC.dll is from dBpa .
Additional command-line options :
-0 -T “artist=%a” -T “title=%t” -T “album=%g” -T “date=%y” -T “tracknumber=%n” -T “genre=%m” %s
Bit Rate the max setting . dot High Quality
Action/ Copy Selected Tracks/Compressed
Then it begins the rip . It rips first to .wav & then does the conversion to .flac automatically.

I compared the .wavs ripped by both & the only difference that was found by EACs compare .wavs was the offset in EAC for my drive.
Cdex’s compare files found no difference.
All sound about the same to me.
I also ripped one with foobar & it was about the same too.

[QUOTE=roadworker;2659720]Cholla,did you rip a mint condition cd?
If so,I expect almost no difference between most ripping programs…
IMHO,I think that scratched cd’s can show a bigger difference though…[/QUOTE]

Yes on the mint to at least good condition .
As I said I found no difference listening .
Only EAC found a difference in the offset & I think that was due to the fact I have the offset set for the drive in EAC. If I set that to zero I don’t think there EAC would find any difference.

I actually couldn’t hear any difference from the flac files I compared to .wavs by listening. I only converted one of those with EAC to make sure it was still working & then did one with dBpa.

I do have a scratched commercial CD I keep for testing but I didn’t use it for this.

EAC in my experience has been able to rip just about any scratched CD I’ve thrown at it. However, there was a really f**)ed up recording of Son Volt that would not rip, as well as a few others where the pressing was just bad to begin with.